Ratings: Laptops, Desktops, and Netbooks

If you're in the market for a computer (desktop or portable), check out our latest Ratings of desktop computers, laptops and netbooks. We've got recommendations for 13 laptops, three netbooks, and 12 desktops. (Ratings and Recommendations are available to subscibers.)

Both major commercial operating systems are slated for a change this fall. Apple plans to release its OS X upgrade, Snow Leopard, in September. Current Leopard users will be able to upgrade for $29. There will also be also a five-license family version for $49.

Snow Leopard will use 6GB less hard drive space than the previous version, the company said.

Microsoft will release the new Windows 7 on October 22. The company says it's still working on upgrade programs with computer manufacturers and retailers. If you're on the fence about when to buy a new PC, it might be worth holding off until we learn more about upgrade options. —Donna Tapellini

New eMachines desktops: Small in size and price

New models just announced by eMachines, the budget desktop brand, emphasize size (as in small), style (as in sleek), and price (as in really low).

Sure, the new offerings cut back in power, but for many households it’s possible that a system with 1GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, and a low-power AMD Athlon processor is sufficient—especially if it costs only $398 with a 20-inch LCD, as does the new EL1300G-02w desktop.

The company claims the EL1300G-02w is one-third the size of a regular desktop. And it comes loaded with Windows XP instead of Vista.

Want to save another hundred bucks? The EL1300G-01w costs just $298, about $30 more than the Compaq nettop in our Ratings. This eMachines system uses the same Athlon as the EL1300G-02w, while the Compaq uses an Atom processor typically used in netbooks and nettops. The EL1300G-01w has 2GB of memory, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows Vista Home Basic. It does not include a monitor.

We’ll be testing the EL1300G-01w soon; we’ll let you know how it stacks up. —Donna Tapellini

Obama has received key cybersecurity report; public release imminent

Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, speaks at the Anti-Spyware Coalition workshop in Washington, D.C., today, Tuesday May 19. 2009. [Photo: Jeff Fox]

In his opening keynote address here at the Anti-Spyware Coalition's conference, in Washington, Shawn Henry, assistant director of the FBI's Cyber Division, disclosed that a much-awaited report on America's cybersecurity has been delivered to President Obama and should be released to the public either this week or the next. Henry said that he himself had read the report.

The report, the product of a 60-day audit of America's cybersecurity ordered by President Obama shortly after taking office, is expected to define how the relevant Federal Government agencies will be re-structured to better manage the nation's cybersecurity, as well as what other measures, such as legislation, regulation, and research, need to be taken.

When the report is made public, we'll report on it here, so be sure to check back over the next week or so.

There is still much work being done here at the conference. I'll report on other important developments as they occur. —Jeff Fox

Cybersecurity conference battles cybercrime; you can help!

Internet and computer security experts, including Consumer Reports' Technology Editor Jeff Fox, gather in Washington D.C. to discuss online crime and threats. Click on this image to download Jeff Fox's presentation (Adobe Acrobat required) to this online security coalition.

Today, the Anti-Spyware Coalition is holding its fifth annual public workshop in Washington, DC., where software experts, government officials, and public-interest advocates will discuss ways to better fight malware and cybercrime.

I'll be presenting a keynote at roughly 9:45 AM (EDT), highlighting what Consumer Reports has learned from our just-published investigation of cybercrime and our 2009 State of the Net survey.

You can also download a PDF of my PowerPoint presentation here. You can view a webcast of all the morning presentations (including mine) at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/CDT-TV

As our reports of recent years have shown, despite vigorous efforts by law enforcement and security software companies to combat cybercrime, it continues to flourish to the tune of billions of dollars in consumer losses every year.

At today's conference the Center for Democracy and Technology will announce a new effort, called the Chain of Trust Initiative, to coordinate the efforts of groups fighting cybercrime.

While I applaud this move, I remain a tad skeptical about how effectively it will bring to heel the massive worldwide criminal enterprise that stalks Internet users.

The Intel European fine: What it may mean for Americans

Will American computer consumers feel the effect of the huge fine for antitrust regulations levied against chipmaker Intel by European regulators? Very likely yes, in ways both direct and indirect. But there's no consensus on whether those effects will be beneficial or not.

The $1.45 billion fine by the European Commission—the largest the EU has ever levied—may give Intel pause in how it deals domestically with AMD, the other giant in semiconductor manufacturing. The result could be a more competitive global market for semiconductors, the components that are at the heart of computers' processing power.

In a statement issued by Intel CEO Paul S. Otellini, the company asserted that the decision was wrong, that there had been no harm to consumers, and that it would appeal the decision, but comply with it during the appeal process.

If Intel were to take a less aggressive stance toward AMD, it could mean lower costs for chips—or an end to what AMD Executive Vice President Tom McCoy today called "Intel's monopoly-inflated pricing." Yet some analysts are already predicting just the opposite, saying the decision could discourage the continuous price-cutting in semiconductors that has, for decades, delivered ever-better and ever-cheaper computers.

There are also predictions that the decision will spur a U.S. investigation or indictment of Intel. The FTC is in the midst of its own antitrust investigation of Intel, and the Obama administration says it has plans to beef up antitrust-law enforcement.

GE storage boost: 100 DVDs on one disc

General Electric today announced a storage technology breakthrough that they say will allow a standard DVD-sized disc to hold 500 gigabytes of data—the equivalent capacity, with current storage technologies, of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs, or the hard drive for a large desktop computer.

The breakthrough, GE says, is based on holographic storage technology that uses the entire volume of the disc material, rather than only its surface, as today's optical storage formats like DVDs and Blu-ray discs do. However, the company says the new storage formats are similar enough to current optical storage technology that drives that can read the new discs will also play CDs, DVDs and other discs encoded with current technology.

The takeaway: A significant development, this promises eventually to replace memories of three-dimensional photos as the main association when people hear the word "hologram." It also promises to add to the already-dropping price of digital storage media—something anyone who's recently bought a memory card for a digital camera, or a new computer, already knows.

However, don't dump your Blu-ray player yet. As analysts quoted by The New York Times, which first reported the story, note, it's as yet unclear when new drives and, say, movie discs that use the technology will reach the consumer market, and at what cost. The first adopters are expected to be commercial, including the entertainment industry and the health-care sector.

Earth Day tips: 7 ways to a greener computer

As one of the most-used, and most-often-replaced, electronic devices in your home, the way you choose, use, and perhaps re-use your computers has environmental implications. Here are seven things to do with a computer to limit that impact:

1. Sleep it. Rather than leave it running continuously through the day, set your computer to go into "sleep" mode when you push the power button, or after it idles for more than 15 minutes or so. With Windows, you do this through the Power Options control panel, on a Mac, through the Energy Saver Preferences. Most laptops now come set to sleep when you close the lid. PCs typically “awake” in three to five seconds.

2. Power it off. The sleep mode cuts power consumption to 5 watts or so, down from around 30 watts for a running laptop, 60 watts for a running desktop and flat-panel monitor. To reduce consumption to almost nothing, use the Operating System menu to shut the computer off entirely at the end of the day or put it into “hibernate” mode. The latter allows slightly faster recovery—30 seconds or so, versus a minute from being powered off—but isn’t ideal if the computer will next be used.

3. Disconnect it. If you want to use less power still, consider using a switched outlet strip to disconnect power to the computer and any other equipment, like a monitor, printer, speakers, scanner, router and backup drive, since these can each draw a few watts of power when idle. Leave your cable modem connected, though, since it can take a while to re-establish your Internet connection if shut off.

4. Upgrade it. Before deciding to replace a computer that's gotten too slow, see if a simple memory increase will give it a new lease on life, for $50 or less. Check how much you have (System Control Panel for Windows, or "About This Mac" for Mac OS) then use a memory configurator on one of the popular shopping sites to see if you can expand it to a gigabyte (1000 MB) or more on your model of PC.

5. Re-use or recycle it. When your computer is no longer needed, try to find someone else that can use it. If not, recycle it responsibly. You'll find advice on re-using and recycling electronics on our sister website, GreenerChoices.org. Recycle that old CRT monitor, too: it contains a lot of toxic lead.

6. Share it. You can save the entire cost of a second computer, and all the energy it would use, by sharing one you have with a family member. To keep your computing lives separate, create a second "user profile" or "account" for each person, on the Users Control Panel in Windows or the Accounts panel in Mac OS. You can quickly switch back and forth between users' desktops without closing anyone's work.

7. "Star" it. Look for the Energy Star designation when buying a new computer. The latest guidelines for the Star require a computer to be extra-efficient in use, when sleeping, and when shut down. —Dean Gallea

Update your Windows Service Pack

Service Packs are Microsoft's way of "rolling up" a bunch of fixes to their Windows operating system into a one-time installation. They are important because, even if your computer is running smoothly now, some fixes in the Service Pack can prevent future problems or make it run even faster and more reliably now. Also, Microsoft drops "mainstream" (free) tech support for the prior Service Pack level two years after a new one comes out.

You can check your Service Pack level by right-clicking "My Computer" and choosing Properties. You'll see something like the graphic to the right. XP is up to Service Pack 3 (issued May 6, 2008), and Vista is up to Service Pack 1 (issued April 18, 2008).

Happy—and Safe—Filing!

It's the weekend before the big day. Tax Day, that is. Ninety million people filed their income taxes electronically to the IRS last year, and it's likely that more will follow suit .

If you're a file-it-yourself type, make sure your computer is adequately protected. Your financial information is as sensitive to you as it is valuable to the cyber-thieves who'd like to access it.

Before you file:

• Make sure your security software is fully installed and up to date.
• Check that you have a two-way firewall running.
• Use a unique log-in name and password for your account.
• Install a free anti-phishing toolbar like McAfee Site Advisor.

You can get more detail on these and other safe-computing tips by visiting our Online Security Guide. —Donna Tapellini

Dial-up Internet: CR survey reinforces need for broadband stimulus funding

Regulators, legislators, and telecom companies are still deciding how best to divvy up the $7.2 billion in stimulus funding allocated to expanding access to broadband Internet across the country. Advocates are also weighing in, including Chris Murray, a senior lawyer for Consumers Union, the parent company for Consumer Reports, who was quoted in USA Today as saying "If we do it right, we can connect a critical segment of the U.S. population to the knowledge economy," he says, referring to the 40 million-plus consumers living in rural and low-income areas who don't have broadband.

Many such homes must turn to dialup Internet services to access the Web, as a new Consumer Reports survey helps reinforce. The study also shows that dialup, despite its slower connections, isn’t always as cheap as you might think.

Drawing on the experiences of more than 900 customers of major dialup providers included in the Consumer Reports National Research Center’s 2008 Annual Telecom Survey, the study found about one in four dialup households reported wanting to switch their service but couldn’t. Of these, almost a third said they couldn’t switch because no other services were available where they live, and more than 20 percent said the other providers were too expensive.